It's all about Drama

I heart faces is having a 'dramatic black and white' contest this week. This subject can be interpreted so many ways, but I love this image below for many reasons. First of all, I think the lighting and angle are dramatic in and of themselves. But what I find more dramatic is the unexpected femininity that accompanies such a muscular physique. For those of you new to my blog, Ryall is a body builder and she is extraordinarily talented and beautiful. And what I learned on our shoot is that she only lasts that pumped up for a few days while she is competing. Moments after we finished our shoot, she gulped gallons of water and tucked into a plateful of treats, and her crazy orange spray tan had already started peeling off. And what shocked me even more was that when I photographed her wedding a couple months later, she was had transformed into a  little bird-like creature (albeit still very toned) that you would never believe had been so ripped with muscles only weeks before. Ryall is an inspiration.

There are a ton of entries this week so be sure to check out some of the 1200 plus great images others have  submitted - such a fun community.

Earth Hour

Saturday night is Earth Hour. From 8:30 to 9:30, you can vote for the planet by switching off your lights. I have to say, I am a big fan of this event. Not because I think one hour of no lights will make a huge difference on the impact humans are having on our environment, from the exponential usage of fuel that is running out, to the terrifying potential consequences of global warming, to the distressing amount of rubbish we produce. But what I do think participating in Earth Hour does is change something else. It changes people's awareness, people's minds, people's attitudes. And hopefully, as a result, this small event will help to change people's actions, even just a little bit.

So Saturday night, please, for one hour, turn off your lights (and everything else if you can) in honour of our Earth - just a little sign of respect to let her, and everyone else living upon it now and in the future, know you are thinking of them, and perhaps make a little Earth Hour resolution of your own - just something small, something manageable, something attainable, some change that will make you feel good and give our children a bit more of a chance at a future.

And for the people who don't believe our carbon footprints are making the earth warm up, that is fine, but please turn your lights off anyway, because we are still running out of energy and although Oslo is sure he can do it, he is only five years old so has a lot of years in school ahead of him before he can discover the viable alternative to oil.

So light some candles, light a fire, roast some marshmallows and play your guitar, or simply enjoy the darkness, the quietness and the feel good factor of making a weensy itsy bitsy difference for just one hour - it all helps.

Happy Earth Hour.


xx

For more information, or if you have utterly no idea what I am talking about, please visit www.earthhour.org or their blog.

Happy Birthday to Mummy

It is my birthday today. I love my birthday. I love that I have lived another year of this amazing life and although, of course, I am not a fan of these creeping in wrinkles and all the other not-so-fun stuff that comes with age, I feel so blessed to have lived this long. I know that every line on my face tells part of my story and each is a thread in the tapestry of my life. Something terrible could have happened to me and the weaving could have stopped long ago, when I was young, wrinkle free and looked fabulous in a bikini. But I am lucky to be alive and today I am 39 and I still wear a bikini, although I probably shouldn't!

As you may have noticed, I don't have that fibbing-about-your-age button. I am not sure why I shout from the hill tops how old I am, but I think it is because I feel proud of who I am still becoming - I hope that I am becoming a better mother, a better photographer, a better wife, a better person. And most of all, I feel thankful that I have lived for another year! I have lines on my face that scream to you that I am middle aged (ok - this is where I may start to cringe a bit - just that word has so much weight and baggage to it!), yet that still means I have half my life laying before me. That is wonderful. So no, I don't wish I were younger. I don't wish I had less wrinkles or extra bits that were not there before. I just wish to feel as happy in the future as I do today.

Oslo was so sweet. He emptied all his lego and play mobil and building blocks on the floor yesterday and filled the empty wooden wine crates with all the baking goods, marshmallows, chocolate and junk food he could find in the cupboards. He said he wanted to make me a birthday cake and what shape did I want. Love shaped, I told him. He asked if that meant a heart (he knows I LOVE hearts). I told him it was whatever shape he thought love was.

So we make the most decadent chocolate brownies (gluten free of course!) and put marshmallows and chocolate chips in them for good measure. He chose the heart shaped muffin tray and the bigger round ones. He said mine was the big round one and he, Indigo, Daddy and Tin Tin would share the small hearts. Too cute.

So they blew out my candle for me and I made a wish to always feel the way I do today - happy for who I am and thankful - oh so thankful - for all I have. Everything.

Happy birthday to me.

xx

Angles and Angels

Focusing on angles is the theme this week at i heart faces and I LOVE angles.

Looking through my lens from above, below, through something funky, tipped sideways, you name it, I adore it. I had picked out a bunch from this year to choose from and had finally agonised over which one to submit when I suddenly I remembered this image I took last year of the lovely and talented Heather Nova, for promoting her album, The Jasmine Flower. I just think she looks like an angel here - very Ophelia-esque.

Please do go over to the i heart faces blog and check out some of the other entries this week - there are tons and lots of fun ideas for your own shooting too. And people really love to receive comments so if you are moved by any of the images, do let the photographer know - always nice to know your work is appreciated.

Bermuda's harbinger of Spring

I cannot believe that today is the official first day of spring, and this morning, as we were eating (aka devouring) our decadent weekend breakfast of banana chocolate pancakes, we heard the distinct call of the Bermuda Longtails outside.

These beautiful birds have become Bermuda's adopted national symbol. After having spent the entire winter at sea, the big sea birds picked the perfect day to come home to roost. The sun was shining, there was not a puff of air disturbing the waters, and life just dreamy. Longtails mate for life, which I always find so romantic, lay only a single reddish purple speckled egg each year, and spend the summer raising their chick before heading out to see once more in the autumn. I am so excited to have these elegant birds gracing our shores for this will be the first summer in our new house and therefore we have not yet seen this spectacular show of house hunting.

We heard the Longtails squawking it out as they fought for the best spots in the cliffs below our house, for the holes and crevices in the coastal cliffs and islands are where they nest each year. There is a housing crisis for these exquisite birds, whose feet are so small that they cannot walk on land. From too much shoreline development to increased predators and expanding population disturbance, not to mention pollution at sea and other large birds to competing for nests, Longtail numbers are decreasing each year. Of course, like everywhere else, global warming doesn't help when lower nest sites are flooded by rising sea levels and the devastation that hurricanes leave by destroying by filling in existing nests with rocks while other populated cliff faces collapse completely.

But hopefully this season will leave our cliffs unscathed and we will have the pleasure of watching the Longtails' spectacular flying shows just off the house and watch their little families grow. Below are the four pairs that were outside this morning. Just beautiful. We are so lucky to live in such an incredible place.

Happy Spring. xx

Too cute to wait

I just photographed a wedding today and the couple were so gorgeous that I had to post a couple sneak peeks. Promise to do a full post about Keilyn and Damion when I get a moment to edit more of their heavenly photos, but in the meantime, won't you please join me in drooling over there fabulousness?

Summer days in winter

Love love days like yesterday. Makes me even more thankful than usual if that is possible. It was just a perfect day. Kids running around like it was summer, stripping down to their undies (would have given Oslo trendier ones had I known what the afternoon had in store) and splashing about in the crystal clear water. Days like yesterday are what childhood is all about.

High on life

Loquat Season

It is peak loquat season in Bermuda at the moment and on the drive home last night, the kids counted over 100 trees along the side of the road just bursting with fruits just in a 7 minutes (going 20 miles an hour - yes that is the speed limit in Bermuda, and ok, maybe it was 25 miles an hour as I don't totally follow the speed "millet" as Olso calls it).



Our family adores loquats, especially Oslo, who is the king climber and seems able to fill(ish) a basket faster than the rest of us. I am always so excited about the loquat jam that the kids will help Ben make. But for some reason, we still have never made this famous loquat jam. So many hurdles come in our path, from dropping the fruits from their basket, or by mistake eating most of them on the way home, or if it does make it home, we usually put it up high, nice and safe for when we are ready to make it. And then we smell it before we remember it and all the fruit made rather alcoholic jam of itself in the basket and not idea. Or a couple of times, we have made it as far as setting all the different bowls out on the table for de-pitting the loquats. But that is so so much work for so little fruit and once again, it us often easier just to eat then and then than to wait until ready to make jam. So there you have it - we are so far incapable of following through and making the amazing jam that we all so pine for. Weird I know, but true. But luckily, we love the journey as much, if not more, than the destination, so I imagine we have many more loquat seasons ahead of dropping and munching and forgetting before that jam gets made, but when it does, will we ever appreciate it.

Leyli & Anisa

Leylie and Anisa are so enchanting. I first saw the sweet sisters when photographed their aunt's wedding and was smitten with them immediately. I just adore their their stunning eyes. This was my first mini session and it went really well so I will be offering these at my home studio from now on.

























Loved this one of the girls so thought I would share the bw version as well.